Boulder Hazmat team responds to explosives dropped off at county disposal facility

A hazardous materials team responded to the county's Hazardous Materials Management Facility in east Boulder on Saturday afternoon to aid in the removal of what police say were containers filled with potential explosives.

At approximately 2 p.m. Saturday police were dispatched to the facility, 1901 63rd St., on reports of suspicious containers that had been dropped off there, according to Boulder police Sgt. Pat Wyton.

Upon investigation, the containers, which appear to be from some time in the 1970s, were deemed to be filled with dangerous explosive materials likely meant for use during mine blasting, Wyton said.

Explosives are among the types of waste not accepted by the county's hazardous materials facility for disposal, according to the Boulder County website.

A handful of the center's employees where temporarily evacuated while a Boulder Hazmat team loaded the containers into a trailer and transported them to another location where they will be stored until they can be properly disposed of, Wyton said.

It is not clear who brought the containers to the facility, according to Wyton.

He said while such a situation is certainly concerning, it's not entirely unheard of.

"It's not really that uncommon that people will find things in old homes or basements that might be hazardous materials or old mining things," he said.

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